The XHTML WYSIWYG Editor For Desktop & Web Applications

a

Definition

The a element is used to create a hyperlink. The destination of the hyperlink is specified in the href attribute, and the text or image for the hyperlink is specified between the opening <a> and closing </a> tags.

Example

<a href="http://www.w3.org">World Wide Web Consortium</a>

Best practice

Hyperlink text

Hyperlink text should be meaningful when read alone. One reason for this is that some browsers and assistive technologies can list only the links appearing on a given Web page. In Opera for example, pressing CTRL+J will display all the links on a Web page (see the following screen shot). In this situation, using hyperlink text such "click here" or "more" would give a meaningless result. Good hyperlink text should therefore be descriptive and, to avoid confusion, each hyperlink text on a given Web page should also be unique.

Hyperlink images

When hyperlinking an image, the image should have alt text. Devices that cannot process images (assistive technologies, search engines, browsers with image rendering disabled, etc.), use alt text as the text for the hyperlink that displays instead. The following screen shots illustrate this. The first is a screen shot of Firefox displaying a graphic that is hyperlinked.

Next is a screen shot of the same content displayed in Firefox when the image cannot be loaded or the browser settings have image rendering disabled. Here, the image's alt text is used as hyperlink text.

The following is a screen shot of the same content, but this time the image is given no alt text. As a result, when Firefox is not able to render the image, since there is now no alt text to display in place of the image, for some users content is lost and the sentence becomes confusing.

Anchors

In the past, the a element was used as a destination anchor for jumping to a specific location on a Web page. This construct is outdated, because modern browsers can use any element as a destination anchor simply by giving it an id attribute. For example:

<p><a href="#content">Skip menu</a></p>

...

...

...

<div id="content"><h1>Welcome to ...</h1></div>

New window

In order to open a link in a new window, use this JavaScript in the onclick and onkeypress attributes:

Advanced

(LanguageCode) Specifies the primary language of the resource designated by href and may only be used when href is specified.

onblur

(Script) A client-side script event that occurs when an element loses focus either by the pointing device or by tabbing navigation.

onfocus

(Script) A client-side script event that occurs when an element receives focus either by the pointing device or by tabbing navigation.

rel

(LinkTypes) Describes the relationship from the current document to the resource specified by the href attribute. The value of this attribute is a space-separated list of link types. For example: appendix.

rev

(LinkTypes) Describes the reverse relationship from the resource specified by the href attribute to the current document. The value of this attribute is a space-separated list of link types. For example: index.

shape

For use with client-side image maps. Possible values are rect or circle or poly or default.

(ContentType) A hint to Web browsers regarding the type of resource designated by href. For example: application/pdf.

Common core attributes

class

(NameTokens) This attribute assigns a class name or set of class names to an element. Any number of elements may be assigned the same class name or set of class names. Multiple class names must be separated by white space characters. Class names are typically used to apply CSS formatting rules to an element.

id

(ID) This attribute assigns an ID to an element. This ID must be unique in a document. This ID can be used by client-side scripts (such as JavaScript) to select elements, apply CSS formatting rules, or to build relationships between elements.

title

(Text) This attribute offers advisory information. Some Web browsers will display this information as tooltips. Assistive technologies may make this information available to users as additional information about the element.

Common internationalization attributes

xml:lang

(NameToken) This attribute specifies the base language of an element's attribute values and text content.

dir

This attribute specifies the base direction of text. Possible values:

ltr: Left-to-right

rtl: Right-to-left

Common event attributes

onclick

(Script) A client-side script event that occurs when a pointing device button is clicked over an element.

ondblclick

(Script) A client-side script event that occurs when a pointing device button is double-clicked over an element.

onmousedown

(Script) A client-side script event that occurs when a pointing device button is pressed down over an element.

onmouseup

(Script) A client-side script event that occurs when a pointing device button is released over an element.

onmouseover

(Script) A client-side script event that occurs when a pointing device is moved onto an element.

onmousemove

(Script) A client-side script event that occurs when a pointing device is moved within an element.

onmouseout

(Script) A client-side script event that occurs when a pointing device is moved away from an element.

onkeypress

(Script) A client-side script event that occurs when a key is pressed down over an element then released.

onkeydown

(Script) A client-side script event that occurs when a key is pressed down over an element.

onkeyup

(Script) A client-side script event that occurs when a key is released over an element.

Common style attribute

style

(Text) This attribute specifies formatting style information for the current element. The content of this attribute is called inline CSS. The style attribute is deprecated (considered outdated), because it fuses together content and formatting.